I'm a Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London, a writer here and there on this and that and strangely, one of the global experts on the metal scandium, one of the rare earths. An odd thing to be but someone does have to be such and in this flavour of our universe I am. I have written for The Times, Daily Telegraph, Express, Independent, City AM, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer and online for the ASI, IEA, Social Affairs Unit, Spectator, The Guardian, The Register and Techcentralstation. I've also ghosted pieces for several UK politicians in many of the UK papers, including the Daily Sport.

Bill Gates On Why American Colleges Have To Change

Bill Gates has a very interesting post up on the problems with colleges in the US. Myself I would say it’s an argument that the sector is ripe for creative destruction. But then I admit that I think that most stories about US higher education make that point.

The data comes from the book Academically Adrift, which raises some fundamental and surprising questions about the quality of U.S. undergraduate education. The authors, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, are sociologists who analyzed results from essay tests and surveys given to more than 2,000 students at the beginning of their freshman year and the end of their sophomore year. Between 2005 and 2007, data was collected from 24 four-year institutions, including state universities and liberal-arts colleges.

Two key findings have received a lot of attention:

About 45 percent of the students showed no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning or written communication during their first two years in college. (On more recent tests, the students didn’t show much improvement in their junior or senior years, either.) Students said most of their courses required surprisingly little effort. They reported studying only slightly more than 12 hours per week on average. Few of their courses required 40 pages or more of reading per week or writing as much as 20 pages over the course of a semester.

As Gates goes on to point out:

One criticism of the book is that it doesn’t look at subject-matter learning. But I think most people would agree that skills like critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing – the things the test does measure – are pretty important.

Indeed they are. But much more importantly, in the American college system, the freshman and junior years are really there only to improve skills like critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing. You may have chosen your major at this point but you are most certainly not locked into it. What you’re really doing in those first two years is getting that wider part of the education, that supposed education in the basics of analysis and so on, before you go on to do your subject based work in the latter two years. That’s why everyone does have to take a certain number of compulsory classes. Sure, this list changes from college to college but some math, some English, perhaps the very basics of another language and so on.

What this measurement has really found therefore is that those first two years of general education just aren’t producing what they’re meant to: general education.

There’s more though:

U.S. graduate education is still highly rigorous and leads the world.

Indeed it is but I regard this as still part of the problem, not part of the solution. Because, to a certain extent at least, this is the first time that the US education system becomes rigorous and I would argue that it needs to start a lot earlier than that. Another way to put this is what on earth has happened to an education system where 20 year olds are still having to be taught writing skills? Or even critical thinking?

There are two points here. The first is that 20 years old is very late to start specialising in a subject. My native UK asks you to start making the choice of your major at age 16. Up to that point you will indeed have a broad based curriculum. Math, English, a language (although requirement has just been dropped) a science of some kind and so on. You might do eight or nine different subjects (some having two strands, say math and further math). Then you will do three, perhaps four, subjects for the next two years. Most people will end up concentrating on one area. Say, physics, math, further math. Or physics, chemistry and biology. Or over on the arts side. It’s reasonably rare to mix and match from the pure arts side and the pure sciences.

When choosing college you’re going to choose the course. If you want to do a chemistry degree then that’s what you apply for. Similarly english, romance languages, math, whatever. It is possible to change this degree once in the university but by no means common or easy. The degree gets off to a fast start, none of this two years of general education on the US model. To B.Sc. (or B.A) takes three years. If you want to go on to a Ph.D. then there’s a maximum four further years allowed for that. So, in the English system you’re out as a newly minted Ph.D at 24 or 25 years old. In the American system (where, unbelievably to me, it’s 7-9 years for a Ph.D) you’re more likely to be 29 or 30 years old.

Which doesn’t leave all that long of a working life ahead when many to most academics start going emeritus at around age 60 these days.

I would argue that one of the faults of the US system is that yes, the graduate side is indeed rigorous. But it still takes too long and it’s all much to late as well. Rigour and subject specialisation should come in much earlier. It may be that the problem is back in High School but I don’t know the system well enough to be able to pontificate on that.

The other and connected problem is the method of testing within the US colleges:

I’m also impressed by the results in places like Western Governors University. Its low-cost online programs rely on competency-based progression, not class-time or credit hours. It uses external assessments to evaluate student proficiency.

When it’s the people within the institution determining how well they’re teaching their own people, without outside oversight, it’s all too easy to fall into non-rigorous evaluation practices. And, of course, the well known grade inflation.

Which brings me to that creative destruction that I think the sector is ready for: desperately needs. I don’t think that the current colleges are going to change themselves internally. But I do think that the system is going to change from the upstarts like WGU (or Khan Academy, MRU and so on).

It’s a general truism about the economy in general that advances aren’t made within institutions (whether they be companies, colleges or bureaucracies) but by entry and exit from the market. And I’ve a very strong feeling that over the next few decades we’re going to see substantial changes in American university life. As those online upstarts eat into the current rather wasteful and terribly inefficient system.

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I fully agree with Bill Gates Comments on US education system and I would like to add few more comments. America no doubt has been the leading country in science, technology and education which certainly has changed now. Education commences at an early age period of 3-5 years and every child can learn, absorb and enhance their critical thinking power at school level. The capacity of the brain at such an young age is beyond imagination where the child can memorize entire dictionary. Children are distracted by several factors in school ranging from broken family structure, lack of guidance and support from parents, pressure at school and internet/ cell phone distractions. I suggested to one of the school principle to introduce uniform not only to bring equanimity amongst all children, but to avoid lack of self confidence in many children confronting them each day as to what to wear to be in line with rich kids expensive clothing styles. The other serious factors quite often ignored by American Society is on ethics, morals and family care rendered at home. I believed in practicing before preaching and never drank a drop of wine when I tell them not to drink. I taught my girls morals such as to value their body and life as precious gift of God and not to be played with for someone’s pleasure. I have four college degrees (one Bachelors, two Master’s and a Ph.D) and worked > 16-18 hours until I retired now. Back then we had a goal…to get good education and go to America. American kids in their comfort zone at homes are unable to comprehend the fast race out there in other countries in education. Also, many talented kids are either not encouraged at home mostly due to broken home family structure. Parents washing off their hands on children at such an young age and to leave them on their own adds tremendous pressure on these kids to manage their finances and eduction. The freedom may teach them to be independent, yet mostly is diversified on teen-age enjoyment activities Vs concentrating on their college courses and education. Currently India, China, Japan and other countries have strengthened their education system with the goal of becoming as good as and/ or better than America. I am shocked to see how children in India are as smart or more smarter than American college degree holders. They earn their degrees in India with as little as $ 10,000/ year and come to US and earn > $ 60-$100,000. I came to this country with four college degrees which I eared by going to college for > 12 years. I have seen most of my colleagues who have dropped out of school and not crossed GA border or got into a plane. They are happy working as technician or secretaries and never care to save money due to their expensive life styles. I have seen a school girl drop out of college after topping the school as a valedictorian, because she had a child without marriage and had to take care of all responsibilities. She wanted to become a doctor, instead started working in a restaurant cleaning tables. I was very sad to see such an intelligent student wasting her life and talents. Whom should we blame?. School, Country or Politics?. I think the society, family and parents are equally responsible in not supporting the child to succeed in their academic pursuits. We need address and correct our education system right at root levels reckoning several factors into consideration besides critical thinking in science or math or writing skills in english.

As an engineer/scientist I agree that it takes like forever to obtain a doctorate in any science disipline, much too much time is wasted. We should study the UK system and attempt to emulate those features that eliminate wasted time, but most tenured educators will resist any change as that will reduce the total mumber of educators/professors required.

If we could add rigor in early schooling, and be better prepared for college, the outcome would be more desirable. I’ve studied in the UK system also, and taught in the US system. The freshmen students at large are not as focused, prepared with writing, and critical thinking as we’d like them to be. They are mature in non academic ways, but if that is possible, then high school could cultivate a mind that is prepared for a career.

I believe that today`s society is too influenced by the social networks, specially the newer generations. Time management is becoming an issue for students, because smart phones are constantly diverting their attention from class and research, via Twitter, Facebook, Linked in, etc. and there seems to be no strategy to control this. Perhaps a “study mode” button or app? also, telecom companies must mention the usage of smart phones for education, not just to chat and post photos or statuses. Responsible marketing must be implemented, or society will see humans more technologically advanced but academically inferior.

This is the first time that I am writing a comment on a blog. However, as I have been teaching since 1970 and will shortly be retiring from an almost thirty year tenure at a major university, or at least from a branch of a major university, and as I have been teaching research writing for the last almost thirty years, along with some other freshman/sophomore courses, I am in a unique position to respond to a specific comment made by Gates, “About 45 percent of the students showed no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning or written communication during their first two years in college”.

Not only do students show little improvement during their first two years of college, they are being admitted to college, at least to the one at which I have been teaching, less capable as each academic year begins. Students struggle significantly in my academic writing classes. I have a history of high standards that students prefer to avoid, unless they are serious about learning. When students who have not read the negative comments about me on Rate Your Professor take my course and complain, I tell them that I have been maintaining my reputation for high standards for a very long time and have no intention of lowering my standards, that I will reach down to help those who are struggling, but that they must reach up and take responsibility for the follow through and hard work.

Students in my sections of college rriting struggle with reading the sources with comprehension. For the most part, they merely gloss the articles, refusing to use annotation to develop a conversation with the author and come to a deep understanding of what the author means, the ramifications and why. One does not learn to read with comprehension in just one or two semesters. That skill must be developed shortly after one learns to give sound to the symbols on the page and then it must be practiced and built upon year after year until good comprehension strategies and solid understanding is second nature long before one enters college.

The reasons for our problems at the university level are many, but to reduce them to the core, the last years of good K-12 education in America ended in the 1960s when I was in high school and teacher unions began to blossom. Then as education graduates left the university less and less capable, less knowledgeable and less skilled, what they taught in K-12, and their standards, lowered, especially as the progressive/liberal thinking took greater control of the school systems. I often ask my students if they were assigned whole books to read and if they read the books, if they learned to diagram sentences, used the Warriner’s grammar books for learning about English and if they took a debate class or worked on their school newspaper. Need I tell you how few answered yes to these questions?

However, although the problem begins in K-12, universities do have significant responsibility. What if universities stopped admitting students who did not meet their stated and published admission standards? What if professors were backed by the administrative side of the university instead of being undercut by the fear of being sued by irate students who “deserve to pass because they paid for the course” or who should be permitted to remain in a class regardless of their disruptive and impossible behaviors? What if colleges were no longer the “one size fits all” path for post K-12 education? What if Americans held vocational training programs and junior colleges in high regard along with the roll universities play? What if we got government out of the way of education and educators? What if we put the basics back in K-12; reading, writing, math, debate, critical thinking . . . ? Just think, this could benefit all of our children. Our innately capable and capable students would be even more so and our less capable students would be better taught and have the opportunity to learn what is important for survival in an increasing more challenging and complex world where the basics remain the basic building blocks for what must be learned as the years progress.

I would have to agree with you on most points especially made in your last paragraph. However, I disagree with you that K-12 is mostly to blame. I know many, many teachers that have been trying to do exactly as professors and maintain high standards. They want to give students the grades they deserve and be honest to the ones that are failing yet inspire them to rise to the occasion. However, teachers today are increasingly bullied by parents, administrators and even the students themselves just to get an A. Nobody seems to care if they learned or are proficient. Worse yet, teachers are not allowed to assess work habits and responsibility. This is crazy.

This is a societal issue which starts in the values that families hold. To overly simplify this issue and blame the “teacher unions” is infantile.

I know it is currently in vogue to bash the labor movement and unions, yet it weakens your argument and distracts us from the bigger issues.

So, professor Sunshine, it is easy for you to say as you retire with the benefits and retirement that your union fought for. The benefits that you earned for your sacrifice and service are now supposed to disappear for the other scholars? There is a lack of discipline and respect in this country and we all are to blame.

Have a look at this study: www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/teaching_interrupted.pdf

Having now worked at universities for five years I can’t disagree. Colleges and universities are not doing a very good job at adapting to the needs of the marketplace. Change is slow and upheaval is coming whether my colleagues in higher ed want to see it or not. It is similar to the newspaper business I left many years ago – it ignored changes in the market and reaped monopoly profits for years. Then, the roof crashed in. A similar scenario is playing itself out in higher education. There is a great deal of emphasis on maintaining the status quo and ignoring the changes in the larger market even though this behavior further hastens the decline of what was once the greatest system in the world. – Mark Tatge, www.camjournalism.com

Sunshine’s comments are spot on. And I am greatful to Bill Gates for constantly raising awareness on this issue. As an employer my company has been forced to directly reach out to students in order to mentor and develop them young into critical thinkers, and positive workers. We find that there is so much lacking from the pool of candidates we select from for hiring, that we have no choice but to do this.

You can support our mentoring efforts here: http://tinyurl.com/a42dvmr

Everybody blames the level BELOW them ….. that’s a big part of the problem. If they show up weak and unprepared, make sure that they leave you ready for the next level … no excuses. That way YOU will know truly know that you are a teacher